Kyler Deese only went collected one hit in four at-bats Friday night, March 20, but that one hit was enormous.
Faced with the bases loaded, two outs, and one of the country’s best pitchers in Carson Fulmer on the mound, Deese hit a rocket into left field, clearing the bases and giving Auburn a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Behind Deese’s clutch hitting and Keegan Thompson’s stellar pitching, the Tigers claimed their first SEC win of the year over No. 4 Vanderbilt, 6-4.
Deese strolled into second base, and the crowd erupted. As he stood there, one thought went through the lifelong Auburn native’s mind, according to Deese.
“War Damn Eagle,” Deese said.
Thompson improved to 4-2 on the year after pitching 6.2 strong innings, allowing only three earned runs while striking out eight.
“Coming out tonight, and winning the night, gave us a huge confidence boost heading into tomorrow,” Thompson said.
Auburn got the scoring started in the third inning: Anfernee Grier got aboard with a single—giving him a hit in 21 of 22 games this season—then Damon Haecker laced a double into right-center, driving in Grier from second. The Commodores were able to tie it up the next inning, however, when Zander Wiel hit a monster solo home run over the Little Monster in left field.
“It was up in the zone, and I feel like he was sitting on it a little bit,” Thompson said. “That one I couldn’t really get on myself too bad for that one.”
Thompson surrendered another solo homer in the sixth — also over the Little Monster—to Dansby Swanson. Vanderbilt’s lead would be short-lived, as the Tigers erupted in the bottom of the sixth to break open a four-run lead.
“The second one was a two-strike slider, and he did what he should’ve with it,” Thompson said.
Damon Haecker led off the inning with a stand-up triple, and he scored on the next pitch when Cody Nulph forced an errant throw from the third baseman to first, which allowed Nulph to advance to second. An ensuing walk from Daniel Robert put two men on for the Tigers. Blake Logan bunted, but the throw from Fulmer went into left field, and Nulph was tagged out at home trying to score.
Vanderbilt elected to intentionally walk Sam Gillikin, loading the bases. Jordan Ebert lined out to short for the second out, and Deese broke the game open only three pitches later. Auburn added another run on a Melvin Gray RBI single; Damon Haecker ended the inning a few batters later after the Tigers batted around.
The Commodores added a run in both the seventh — during which Thompson was relieved for Cole Lipscomb — and eighth, pulling Vanderbilt within two runs.
Auburn couldn’t muster anything in the bottom of the eighth, and Lipscomb returned to pitch the final inning.
After issuing a leadoff walk, Lipscomb struck out Rhett Wiseman, who was batting .430 on the year. With the tying run at the plate, Lipscomb got Swanson—who homered earlier in the game — to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
With the win, Auburn improves to 15-7 and picks up their first conference win against a top-5 Vanderbilt team — the first time Auburn has claimed a series opener against the Commodores since 2008.
“Had we not won the game, we’re staring at an 0-4 start in the SEC, and we’re not going to sleep very well tonight, and the coaches aren’t going to rest very well,” said coach Sunny Golloway. “We’re being asked to compete with them (the teams that have been to Omaha), and we’re not there, but we’re being asked to compete with them to stay in, and that’s what we’re trying to tell our kids.”
Auburn will play a doubleheader Saturday, March 21, due to inclement weather forecasted for Sunday, March 22. Trey Wingenter and Rocky McCord are scheduled to get the starts for the two games.
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